In an effort to keep this from becoming a War and Peace post, I'm going to break the back story up into parts. This 1st post covers the application process to get approved for a service dog.

I started researching service dogs for my daughter in the spring of 2009. I spent hours online trying to find a company that trained dogs in a way that could help Mika. The more research I did, though, the more disheartened I became. Service dogs are so expensive!!! There is no possible way that I could pay $20,000 for a service dog. I bet that the vast majority of people who need a service dog can't afford that amount of money. That's what brought me to Canine Assistants. They have private and corporate sponsors that will cover the entire training costs. There is a very long waiting list (as you can imagine), but after much internal debate, I started the process of applying.

In the fall of 2009, I applied on behalf Mika's to Canine Assistants for a service dog. The application process is long and complicated, and not for the faint of heart. I filled out forms about my daughter's health, personality, energy levels, school experiences and more. There were forms about me, our living environment and my expectations for the dog. I had reference forms to be filled out by her physician, teacher and after school sitter. There were detailed forms for the physicians to fill out. I don't blame them in any way for all of the paperwork. In fact, I'm glad they do it. By the time they called me 6 weeks after the papers were submitted, they already had a good idea about who we were and what challenges we face in our day to day lives.

I remember being so incredibly nervous about the phone call. Sometimes it feels like I'm constantly fighting to have Mika included, or to keep things on an even playing field for her. Do you know how many times I've gone toe to toe with someone about their trying to feed her a food they KNOW she's allergic to? How many times I've told a doctor they're an idiot or I-told-you-so when a specialist tells the doctor what I've been saying for 3 months? I don't know why I thought I would have to convince CA that Mika would benefit from a service dog. They never once even suggested any such thing. I guess it was just so important to me that they take her needs seriously, I was ready to actively convince them if necessary. During our conversation I answered the few questions they had. When they asked if I had any questions, I blurted out "Does this mean she qualifies for a dog?" I could feel the woman smile through phone and she said "Aimee, her physicians felt that she would benefit from a service dog and we completely agree." I nearly burst into tears at hearing that. Heck, I'm getting goosebumps now just typing this. I can't explain what it's like to hear that.